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Is the Boring Company even active any more?

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Soon after Elon decided to buy Twitter and unban conservative voices, the left wing media went into overdrive to smear him anyway possible. A bunch of anti-Boring company articles all came out at about the same time in November all lying by omission.

The reality is:

No Boring company projects have been abandoned. Boring has bid or tried to bid on various transport projects, but couldn’t come to a deal with lots of municipalities. Anyone who has bid public company projects knows this is very normal.

Boring is doing two project right now. Las Vegas is the big one. They are building a 30 or so stop rapid transit system underground. Construction has been ongoing for a couple of years and they have four stations built right now with many more coming.

There’s a small system that could get expanded in Miami.
 
Thanks for the response. I've seen now that there is a comparable question in that Las Vegas thread.
Yet given that Boring even wanted to pay for those projects, it seems to be somehow surprising that they didn't come to an agreement anywhere except for in Las Vegas. What about the project in Maryland?
Is the expanded system in Las Vegas the same as the one at the Convention Centre? Cars driven manually at low speed through tunnels? Isn't that technologically a bit "meh"?
 
Thanks for the response. I've seen now that there is a comparable question in that Las Vegas thread.
Yet given that Boring even wanted to pay for those projects, it seems to be somehow surprising that they didn't come to an agreement anywhere except for in Las Vegas. What about the project in Maryland?

Boring isn't footing the cost but it isn't being paid for by public funds either. The convention center paid for the three convention center stations. And each hotel station is going to be paid for by those hotels. Boring will charge $$ for each ride in the completed Loop to cover operating expenses, and make a profit. Most other projects were seeking public funds (municipalities mostly) for construction.

Is the expanded system in Las Vegas the same as the one at the Convention Centre? Cars driven manually at low speed through tunnels? Isn't that technologically a bit "meh"?

Yes, same system, just an extension of it.

It isn't "meh" if you have to take a taxi the length of the strip versus an express drive in a tunnel. The strip road is really slow for transport. So it'll be a major upgrade for patrons - it won't be "low speed" for longer sections. It is obvious that they will eventually replace drivers with autonomous vehicles. They just haven't done it yet. And besides, even if they don't, then it is still a better system than surface street taxis.

I always wonder, why do people get a thrill for putting down Boring? Are people just looking for things to be superior about? Pumping up their own ego? Of all the things to try to piss all over, why would you choose a project started by a very successful serial entrepreneur? Zip2, Paypal, SpaceX, Tesla, Solar City and now Neuralink and Boring. The first five were wildly successful, the last two are still in their infancy and yet to be proven. But geez, there are a huge number of other companies out there that are disasters, why focus on Elon's startups?
 
I don't focus on Boring, I just wondered where this whole project was going, given that this forum is rather quiet..
Anyway, Musk started Boring by promising something innovative. Please excuse me that building a car tunnel that might have been built as well in 1920 doesn't appear to be all that innovative, even if it's practical for those that use it. To my knowledge Boring didn't build a Tunnel Boring Machine of their own?
 
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I don't focus on Boring, I just wondered where this whole project was going, given that this forum is rather quiet..
Anyway, Musk started Boring by promising something innovative. Please excuse me that building a car tunnel that might have been built as well in 1920 doesn't appear to be all that innovative, even if it's practical for those that use it. To my knowledge Boring didn't build a Tunnel Boring Machine of their own?


It has a bunch of innovations.
 
Zip2, Paypal, SpaceX, Tesla, Solar City and now Neuralink and Boring
It is very simple. When a new idea sprouts up, it is very difficult to understand how it will be any different or change the status quo radically.

When Tesla & Nissan came out with their EVs, very few believed this will be any better than ICE. I mean what can be better than filling up gas in 5 minutes compared to waiting on a charger for 4 hours.. right? and you see batteries are expensive too. And also electric cars have been tried and failed in 1910, so this is not a new idea.
 
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I don't focus on Boring, I just wondered where this whole project was going, given that this forum is rather quiet..
Anyway, Musk started Boring by promising something innovative. Please excuse me that building a car tunnel that might have been built as well in 1920 doesn't appear to be all that innovative, even if it's practical for those that use it. To my knowledge Boring didn't build a Tunnel Boring Machine of their own?

The innovation is for how fast and how cheap they can build the tunnels. If they wanted to put some sort of rail train in the tunnels they could, but I reckon they are advertising Tesla vehicles….
 
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He thinks a tunnelling rate in excess of 150 metres per day is possible.
Regular TBMs improve every year as well and need to be custom designed for the soil or rock in each location.

A typical Metro has an internal radius of at least 3m (diagram for Doha Metro below) and a whole heap of safety mechanisms, fire suppression, signalling, walkways and cross passage tunnels - all of which add substantially to costs.

100840302_c16ccc252e.jpg


The Vegas tunnels are much smaller - radius of 1.9m, no cross passages as it's only single bore - that alone is a massive difference in spoil and concrete costs.
using a 14-foot (4.2 m) diameter tunnel boring machine, giving a finished 12-foot (3.8 m) internal diameter.

they wanted to put some sort of rail train in the tunnels they could,
No chance based on the radius. At best an unusual tiny train like the Glasgow Subway.
--

I'm still surprised Tesla is seemingly using no automation in the tunnels. This should be the easiest scenario for FSD - a controlled and consistent environment.
 
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Regular TBMs improve every year as well and need to be custom designed for the soil or rock in each location.

A typical Metro has an internal radius of at least 3m (diagram for Doha Metro below) and a whole heap of safety mechanisms, fire suppression, signalling, walkways and cross passage tunnels - all of which add substantially to costs.

View attachment 915631

The Vegas tunnels are much smaller - radius of 1.9m, no cross passages as it's only single bore - that alone is a massive difference in spoil and concrete costs.



No chance based on the radius. At best an unusual tiny train like the Glasgow Subway.
--

I'm still surprised Tesla is seemingly using no automation in the tunnels. This should be the easiest scenario for FSD - a controlled and consistent environment.

They couldn’t fit standard rail in them, but if they wanted to built their own trains they could.
 
Regular TBMs improve every year as well and need to be custom designed for the soil or rock in each location.

A typical Metro has an internal radius of at least 3m (diagram for Doha Metro below) and a whole heap of safety mechanisms, fire suppression, signalling, walkways and cross passage tunnels - all of which add substantially to costs.

View attachment 915631

The Vegas tunnels are much smaller - radius of 1.9m, no cross passages as it's only single bore - that alone is a massive difference in spoil and concrete costs.



No chance based on the radius. At best an unusual tiny train like the Glasgow Subway.
--

I'm still surprised Tesla is seemingly using no automation in the tunnels. This should be the easiest scenario for FSD - a controlled and consistent environment.

The autonomy has to work well. It has to handle everything safely. It also has to be allowed.
 
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It is very simple. When a new idea sprouts up, it is very difficult to understand how it will be any different or change the status quo radically.

When Tesla & Nissan came out with their EVs, very few believed this will be any better than ICE. I mean what can be better than filling up gas in 5 minutes compared to waiting on a charger for 4 hours.. right? and you see batteries are expensive too. And also electric cars have been tried and failed in 1910, so this is not a new idea.

It isn't very difficult to understand if you want to. But you do have to open your mind and look at what's _actually_ being done and even what's being said, and consider the implications.

Boring's fundamental aim, which Musk has mentioned _multiple_ times is to make tunneling fast and cheap.
If tunneling is fast and cheap it's economical to have many more tunnels.
If you have tunnels, you can send vehicles through them avoiding other traffic, give you faster point-to-point transportation.
Convergence: electric vehicles and cheap tunnels
If you only have electric vehicles in tunnels you need less ventilation, making them cheaper and fast.

Tesla has an aim of cheap autonomy.
If you have autonomy you don't need a driver.
If you don't need a driver you can have cheap taxis.
Convergence: autonomous vehicles and taxi services
If you have cheap autonomous taxis you have cheap point-to-point transportation.

Convergence: autonomous vehicles, electric vehicles, taxi services and cheap tunnels
Cheap electric autonomous taxis in lots of cheap tunnels for cheap and fast point-to-point transportation.

Don't fall for hype, but hope they make progress and ultimately succeed, because the success will be awesome.

And it's fine to look at the negatives and ask questions as long as you're actually looking for answers. Autonomy, for example, could lead to more congestion and more miles traveled. But it could also result in less congestion and lower road network costs.
 
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Boring is in a learning phase. They are accumulating knowledge in tunneling technology, dealing with municipalities and gaining experience for their team. Imagine that at some point, Elon will begin making boring machines in house. This will be the big step for them doing the next generation of projects.